Zenit vs. Rubin, Paris Nizhny Novgorod vs. Dynamo, Sochi vs. Ural: Sunday Matches in Russian Premier League

TASS, April 21. The program of the 25th round of the World – Russian Premier League (RPL) will conclude on Sunday with four matches. On this day the matches will be held: Paris Nizhny Novgorod – Dynamo, Zenit – Rubin, Sochi – Ural and Rostov – Spartak.

In the last game of the trip, Rostov will host Moscow Spartak, the game will start at 20:30 Moscow time. The teams are neighbors in the standings, the Rostovites are in eighth place with 34 points, the red and white are in seventh place with 35 points. The match of the first part of the Russian Championship between the teams ended with a home victory for Spartak with a score of 2:1.

This week both teams played Fonbet – Russian Cup matches. On April 17, “Spartak” played a draw on the road with St. Petersburg “Zenith” in the ½ finals of the “RPL route” (0:0), in the first meeting the red whites lost with a score of 1 :2, and that is why they went to the second stage of the ½ finals “paths of the districts”. At this point, Spartak will meet the capital Dynamo away on May 1. “Rostov” beat Ekaterinburg “Ural” on the road with a score of 3:1 in the first stage of the semi-final “path of regions” in the second stage the team will play at home against Kaliningrad “; Baltika” on May 2.

Due to illness, one of Spartak’s defensive leaders, Serb Srdjan Babic, missed the meeting with Zenit. Before the match with Rostov, the red and white press service reported that the football player and the team went to Rostov-on-Don. “The team goes by train to Rostov-on-Don. Defender Srdjan Babic, who missed the match in St Petersburg, returned to action. Midfielders Roman Zobnin and Victor Moses continue to recover. Goalkeeper Alexander Selikhov, who is ill, is still in Moscow,” the press service said. Due to disqualification, defender Umar Sako will not play for Rostov.

The last time Rostov beat Spartak at home was on September 11, 2022, when the meeting ended with a victory for the Rostov team with a score of 4:2. Spartak in Rostov-on-Don defeated an opponent for the last time on April 4, 2021, when the match ended with a score of 3:2 in favor of red and white.

Also on Sunday, Sochi will play at home against Ural, the meeting will start at 18:15 Moscow time. Both teams are still fighting to maintain their registration in the RPL. Sochi is in the last 16th position with 18 points, but the team led by the Spaniard Robert Moreno, after the restart of the season, did not lose any of the five championship games (one win, four draws). “Ural” is in 15th place with 23 points The Ekaterinburg team, after the winter break, did not have the best start, winning one victory in five games, drawing once and suffering three losses. In the first round, Sochi defeated the Ekaterinburg team with a score of 4:1.

Zenit will try to break away, Dynamo will try to get closer

In the first match on Sunday, Dynamo Moscow will play away against Paris Nizhny Novgorod, the meeting will start at 14:00 Moscow time. After the first part of the Russian championship, the blue and white was announced as one of the candidates for the championship, but the Muscovites suffered three defeats in a row in the RPL – from Ural (1:2), Spartak (1:2) and Rostov (1:4). The head coach of the blue and white Marcel Licka believes that Dynamo has finished the fight for victory in the RPL. “We failed to win three matches in a row in the Russian Championship and achieve results. I told the boys that I don’t like the team’s current game. We can add many aspects. No matter how difficult it is, our race with Zenit is over. We have to try to keep third place, now this is our main task in the championship,” he told Sport-Express.

As part of Paris NN, team captain and defender Kirill Gotsuk will miss the last game due to disqualification. The Control and Disciplinary Committee of the Russian Football Union suspended the player for three matches for rough play causing injury in a meeting with Baltika Kaliningrad (0:2). Paris NN and Dynamo will play for the fourth time this season, in the national cup the teams won, and the championship game ended in a draw. Dynamo is third in the RPL standings with 38 points, while Paris NN is 10th with 28 points.

Also on Sunday, the leader of the Russian championship, St. Petersburg Zenit, will try to break away from second place Krasnodar in a home match with Orenburg, the game will start at 16:15 Moscow time. The team of St. Petersburg 47 points in 23 games, the lead over Krasnodar is 1 point, but the Krasnodar team already has one more game. “Orenburg” with 26 points is in 12th position. The Orenburg team showed a good start after the resumption of the Russian championship, the team won three victories and drew twice in five games.

Zenit head coach Sergei Semak praised Orenburg’s performance. “Orenburg in the spring part is one of the best teams, they got the same number of points as us,” said Semak, whose comment was given by the Zenit press service. – Only Rostov scored more. This shows that the team is playing very well this Spring. The most important thing is the points received. And the second part is that the team misses very little. Just two goals conceded after the winter break shows that the team knows how to defend, as they have a fairly large number of attacking players. What Orenburg has been known for lately is creating opportunities and the individual skill of their players.”

The program of the 25th round of the RPL started on Friday, on this day Krasnodar beat Voronezh Fakel at home with a score of 2:0. On April 20, Lokomotiv drew away with Rubin (1:1), Baltika beat Krylya Sovetov Samara (2:1) at home, and CSKA lost at home with Akhmat (1:2).